Latest Area News Headlines

MINNEAPOLIS - Joan Mondale, who built a reputation as a national cultural arts advocate while her husband was vice president, has died. Her family issued a statement through their church saying she died Monday afternoon with family by her side.

Mondale was so passionate about the arts that she was nicknamed "Joan of Art." She herself was an avid potter when her husband Walter, then a Democratic U.S. senator from Minnesota, was elected Jimmy Carter's vice president in 1976.

Carter named Joan Mondale honorary chairwoman of the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities. She...

SIOUX FALLS, SD - A Hills man is in custody after an assault and carjacking in central Sioux Falls Sunday night. Sioux Falls Police responded to a car crash near Minnesota Ave. and 26th St at 8:40 p.m., only to find the driver had fled.

Jeremy Albers, 36, of Hills, allegedly approached an SUV occupied by Xavier Knight and his friend Leslie Larsen at the Freedom Valu Center on Minnesota Ave. Larsen said the suspect forced Knight to leave the vehicle, then the suspect began driving the vehicle with Larsen still in the backseat. The suspect crashed the SUV after only a couple blocks...

FULDA – The family of a Veteran killed in action during the Korean War was presented with a Purple Heart Medal thought to be lost for nearly six decades. Commissioner Larry Shellito with the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs presented the medal to William Johnson of Avoca during a special ceremony at Fort Snelling Wednesday.

The medal had been awarded to his brother George Johnson, who died July 28, 1950 in the Battle of Hwanggan. George was 17 years old when he died. His remains were returned to Fulda for the burial, and his parents presented with a Bronze Star and Purple...

WORTHINGTON – According to the Minnesota State Patrol, last weekend’s winter storm resulted in 76 vehicles left on the roadway in southwest Minnesota. A report issues Wednesday shows that over the three-day period of Saturday, Sunday and Monday, there were four rollovers and six crashes in the area, and those are just the ones on state roads. Seventeen vehicles were reported stalled on the roads.

According to Sgt. Jacalyn Sticha of the state patrol, the numbers in southwest Minnesota were below the state average, because many motorists in the area are heeding the warnings put out by...

WORTHINGTON – U.S. Senator Al Franken said Wednesday he’s been pressing the White House to address the issue of the propane shortage, which has reached a crisis point.

“Approximately 250,000 Minnesotans use propane to heat their homes,” Franken said, "with the average price of a gallon of propane costing $1.67 in October. Now that average price is $2.59, and in some places, much higher.”

Franken said this past year has become ‘the perfect storm’ for causing prices to rise. A wet fall that required farmers to dry a lot of corn, followed by a very cold winter; there have also...

WORTHINGTON – A request to build a mini-storage facility along First Avenue Southwest will be sent to the Nobles County Board of Adjustments for review after a joint jurisdictional committee meeting Tuesday. The intended land is located outside city limits but within a half-mile of the city; requests for altered property uses therefore go before the joint jurisdictional committee.

Allen Drost of Worthington purchased the parcel just south of Prairie Elementary last fall to build a home and the 10,000 square-foot mini storage. Weeks before Drost closed on the property, he was...

WORTHINGTON – As he enters his 16th year as Nobles County Sheriff, Kent Wilkening has announced his candidacy for the 2014 ballot, which he said will be his fifth term if elected.

Wilkening began his service in Nobles County in 1987 as a deputy, and in 1998 ran for the sheriff’s position. He took office in 1999.

Wilkening also talked about some upcoming changes being pondered by the county in courtroom security. The coded keypads that guard many of the doors in the building are being upgraded, and consideration to upgrading other security measures is underway as well.

WORTHINGTON – Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Chief executive officer Chancellor Steven Rosenstone visited the Minnesota West Community and Technical College Worthington Campus on Monday to ask students, staff and faculty what they were looking for in an interim and permanent president for the school. Current President Richard Shrubb announced his decision to retire about a month ago.

An interim president will be appointed to serve from July 2014 through June 2015, when a permanent president will be chosen. According to Rosenstone, the two positions cannot be filled by the...

BREWSTER – The Brewster man killed in a snowmobile crash in the early morning hours Sunday had rolled his sled and was ejected, according to Nobles County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Jay Clark.

Dana Stenzel, age 29, formerly of Heron Lake,was snowmobiling just north of the Minnesota Soybean Processors plant in Brewster when he hit a field approach, Clark said. Stenzel was ejected from the sled as it rolled, and his body hit a street sign, causing chest cavity trauma.

Stenzel was sledding with one other person, who was approximately a half-mile behind.
The Nobles County...

WORTHINGTON - Winds howling up to 60 miles per hour whipped up fresh snow Sunday, closing highways in southwest and central Minnesota and causing hundreds of school closings amid a new round of bone-chilling cold. More than one area lost electricity Sunday evening, due to the blizzard.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation and the State Patrol closed highways across the state, pulling plows and shutting traffic gates by 5:30 p.m. Hotels filled up quickly, prompting some towns to open shelters, including one in Brewster and another in Cottonwood County. As of 8 a.m., all roads...